1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to equipment for use in connection with skis and particularly Alpine skis. More specifically, the present invention is directed to equipment used during procedures for mounting sets of bindings for shoes or boots on skis of the "monoski" type.
2. Discussion of Background and Material Information
In the course of mounting front and rear bindings adapted for positioning and maintaining ski boots on the upper surface of a conventional ski, one generally begins by temporarily placing a template, having a predetermined arrangement of bores for determining the location of holes to be drilled in the ski, on the ski at a predetermined position designated by reference lines. Such a template includes a plate extending along the length of a portion of the upper surface of the ski provided with a group of openings or bores provided at well-defined positions through which one inserts a drill or other means for boring holes of a predetermined depth and diameter in the ski. The template is then removed and the front and rear bindings are positioned and secured to the ski by means of screws engaged in these holes to mount the binding on the ski.
A template of this type is described in French Pat. No. 2 240 751 and in French Utility Certificate No. 2 511 906, commonly owned with the present application. In addition to the previously mentioned plate provided with openings and reference designations for the correct positioning of these openings in the longitudinal direction of the ski, the templates include two grips provided in front and to the rear, respectively, of the plate for the temporary attachment of the template to the ski. These grips cooperate by gripping the lateral edges of the ski.
This type of temporary affixation of the template is adapted to a very specific ski width, which is considerably narrower than a monoski. Accordingly, conventional templates of this type cannot be used to mount sets of bindings on monoskis. Although a monoski often assumes the shape of an ordinary ski, it should be noted that the width of a monoski is approximately twice as large as the width of an ordinary cross-country or downhill ski, and that the two boots of the user are positioned side-by-side on the monoski by means of two juxtaposed sets of bindings. Thus, because of the substantial width of the monoski, conventional templates cannot be used with monoskis without modification.
Therefore, prior to the present invention, the only technique for mounting bindings to monoskis required determining the position of the holes for the screws manually by tracing directly onto the upper surface of the ski. As one can appreciate, however, this method is long, fastidious, and relatively imprecise.